Man vs Machine, not!

Does anyone remember Borat and his "Not!" joke?
   

This is how my laptop looks like, six years and a month ago. It's no longer as polished as the one shown above and there are dark patches where my palms rest. I’m not dirty when I say “dark patches” but more like the silver coating has worn off. Other than the DVD-ROM drive that no longer reads discs, everything else still functions. Okay, I replaced the keyboard some years back.

I’ve been hearing complaints from my friends about how their relationship with their laptops crash and burn (literally) or on the rocks after just three years [and ended the next]. I looked at my A50 and gave it a kiss. No I didn’t do that.

It was a gift from a family friend (a couple) but I was given the freedom to choose. Long story short, I ended up with the Toshiba and they were rather pleased. I suspect it’s due in part to the fact that they’re Japanese? And they know Toshiba lasts. Six years on, I can tell you it’s a tough machine.

With the A50, I’ve had the joy of burning rubber on the streets with sirens wailing behind in both installments of Need For Speed – Underground 2 and Most Wanted (go Josie Maran!). And who can forget the joy of winning the World Cup, English League, or to trade players and build stadiums in the FIFA series? Or Blizzard’s Starcraft and Warcraft? Did I mention, too, that I almost threw up playing SWAT 4 for too long? Motion sickness. And I’m back using taser on non-compliant suspects soon after.

Glad I swapped out the 512MB of memory for 2GB modules. Now, it’s semi-retired and only does things like processing a 70-page dissertation in 2008 and another 100 pages in these few months. Lately, I’ve been using it for photomanipulation on Gimp and occasionally, DotA with my friends. As happy as I am with this buddy of mine, I can’t help but feel left out every time new games or apps are released and the system requirements are almost ridiculous.

The day will come when I’ll get one i7 workhorse with an equally powerful GPU. Then, I’d explore the possibilities of learning video processing and of course, games like Call of Duty: Black Ops. Still, that might take at least two more years.

For now, I’m pleased with my laptop. It’s been a rewarding journey; blogging, malware-removal training, programming, graphics, music and movie nights! Some things last and some don’t, some last longer whilst some never took off. It’s the same for the A50 and everything else. Gotta learn to be thankful and to let go should the situation demands it, right?